Lot 127: (Thorpe, Thomas Bangs)

(Thorpe, Thomas Bangs) "The Big Bear of Arkansas," in The Big Bear of Arkansas, and Other Tales Illustrative of Characters and Incidents in the South and South-West. Edited by W[illiam]. T. Porter. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1845 In 6s (7A x 4A in.; 194 x 117 mm). Additional engraved pictorial title-page and 9 engraved plates by Darley; some foxing and soiling, plates moderately to severely browned. Original printed green wrappers; frayed, chipped, repaired, spine splitting, shaken. Half green morocco slipcase, chemise. First edition. "'The Big Bear of Arkansas' by Thomas Bangs Thorpe is the finest example of the maN0 stories of legendary hunters who pursued fabulous bears, a genre coeval with the arrival of the white man on the Atlantic frontier. The tale itself became so popular and exemplary that it provided a designation, 'the big bear school,' for the Southwestern frontier writers who followed Thorpe. Though comic in tone and modest in scope, Thorpe's yarn has much in common with two other important American hunting stories, Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), and Faulkner's The Bear (1942). ... As a popular magazinist, Thorpe successfully employed the romantic themes and genteel style that were conventional in his day. He remains of literary interest, however, for his originality, earthy comedy, realism, and the sense of dignity which he saw in the life and people of the Southwestern frontier" (Humor of the Old Southwest, ed. Cohen and Dillingham, 2d ed., Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1964, pp. 267-68). Scarce in wrappers, in aN0 condition. References: Litchfield 27; BAL 20301; Wright 2061